The Five Ninja
by PencilLunatic
Summary: Jiraiya decides to take a questionable decision when it comes to world peace. Now, these five ninja will have to cooperate with each other, despite the fact that this might cause problems out of their control with their respective villages, not to mention Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. Will it be easy? Probably not.
1. chapter 1

**A/N: Currently working on the next chapter for my Unexpected Revelations, but just so people don't get bored, here is something to keep you occupied.**

 **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

 **At a hotel in Konoha**

Jiraiya was for lack of a better word, thinking of an idea that he has thought of once but never again. He and Naruto Uzumaki had just recently came back from the training trip to prepare Naruto for the Akatsuki. However, he had one other thing in mind right now, something really stupid, but if Naruto has taught him anything, sometimes stupid can work. He planned on taking one person from every one of the hidden villages, put them together in a situation that they had to cooperate with each to solve, and maybe, just maybe, he could show them that people with different ideologies can work together. Either that, or he could just end being the trigger for another great war.

This was something he had to decide hard on, because it had a fifty fifty chance of working out. On the one hand, they could always just end up ripping each other apart and get absolutely nowhere. On the other, they could set aside their differences with each other and try and figure things out together, which could lead to the unifying of each major village, and then one step closer to peace. Yes, he knew it was stupid and incredibly dangerous, but he was more than confident that the ladder would be it's outcome. Thankfully, he already knew the candidates that he would use for this possibly life threatening little stunt.

The first candidate was from his home village, Konoha, and he of course picked his star pupil, Naruto. The next would be from Suna, the youngest brother of three siblings, jinchuuriki to the Ichibi, and the current Kazekage, Gaara no Sabaku. After that, he would go on to Kiri, where he would get a kid that was a member from the Seven Ninja Swordsman and someone who would protect the Mizukage with all his strength, Chojuro. This next one would be very tricky and kinda risky, considering that she was a skilled kunoichi, and we all know how Jiraiya was around women, on top of being the granddaughter of Iwa's Sandaime Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi. Finally, he would go to Kumo and find the person known as the Raikage's right hand man besides his own adopted brother, Darui.

He hoped to Kami that this wouldn't backfire. He wen't to his closet to get a bat and a large bag capable of carrying up to five people, perfect for an occasion like this, although he hoped Naruto would come along peacefully. He only had one thought as he left his apartment.

'May Kami have mercy on my soul.'

 **Naruto's apartment**

Naruto was getting dressed for his day. He was hoping to get some training done, eat at Ichiraku's, try and hope for the best that Sakura wouldn't reject him again, get to meet up with the rest of his friends and catch up on old times, and maybe get assigned a mission. Yeah, safe to say he had a pretty busy schedule today, but little did he know that everything was about to change when a spiky white haired perverted sannin would come and knock on his door for the experience of his life. He heard said knock and went to open up the door. He was greeted by, who else, Jiraiya.

"Ero-sennin, what are you doing here?" Asked the whiskered blonde.

"Hey kid, how would you like to help me out with something I want to try out?" Requested Jiraiya.

"Is this about your research again, because if so, then you can forget it."

"Trust me kid, this involves no research."

"Well then, it depends. How long will it take."

"Who knows, days, maybe weeks."

"Sorry, but I might get a mission request or something involving Sasuke could pop up, and I'm not wasting that opportunity. Sorry."

Jiraiya sighed, he expected an answer like that from Naruto. Looks like he had to use the bat.

"Naruto, I hope you can forgive me for this." Naruto just looked at him with a confused expression before he was knocked out by Jiraiya bashing the bat in his face. He then took Naruto's unconscious body and threw it in the body bag.

'One down, four to go.' He thought.

 **Sunagakure**

Gaara was getting tired of all the paperwork that he had to do. Ever since he became Suna's Kazekage, He had to endure the pain and stress of constant paperwork. Combine that with the fact that he couldn't fall asleep because of Shukaku and it just got worse. He wished something interesting were to happen already, and oh how his wish would come true. Suddenly, a Suna-nin entered the room.

"Kazekage-sama, you have a visitor."

"Who is it?"

"Apparently it's Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin." At this Gaara looked surprised and then smiled. If Jiraiya was back then that meant Naruto was back aswell.

"Send him in." The Suna-nin nodded before going to get him. When Jiraiya finally entered he performed a hand sign while mouthing the word 'Sorry.' Before Gaara could even question what was happening, he was bombarded with a water style jutsu that was used to turn his sand into mud. After recovering from the water jutsu, he was knocked out via the same way Naruto was, and was thrown in the bag just like Naruto. Needless to say, Jiraiya had to be very, very, very careful to avoid suspicion from anybody. Later that night, a certain bomber and human puppet would be pissed off and disappointed by the fact that the Kazekage was gone, and they were going to have a lot of explaining to do to their leader for this failed mission.

 **Kirigakure**

Today, the Mizukage had decided to give Chojuro the day off. Chojuro honestly didn't know what to do, so he was just walking around the village aimlessly. He decided he wanted to get something to eat, seeing as how he skipped breakfast this morning. On his way, he heard what sounded like a little girl crying. He followed it until he came to an alleyway and saw said little girl with her knees to her chest, bawling her eyes out.

"Hey, are you alright, what's wrong?" Chojuro asked as he rushed to the girl's side, not even noticing the body bag hidden in the shadows. Then the little girl smiled, turned into smoke, and out came a pervert with a bat that caught Chojuro by surprise. He didn't have time to react as he was unconscious not even a second later.

'This job is so much easier than I thought it would, then again I am a sage, so it might be much harder for the average joe.' Thought Jiraiya tossing the next victim into the bag, which by now was starting to get very heavy, so Jiraiya had to use a toad to carry the bag aswell as for easy travel. Next stop, Iwagakure no Sato.

 **Iwagakure**

To say that Kurotsuchi was happy would have been an understatement. Recently, her grandfather, Onoki, promoted her to the level of Jounin. This meant that she was a step closer to taking the seat from him, which Onoki clearly didn't know would benefit him considering he was way past retirement. She honestly never got why he would always insist on staying in power, but one thing was for sure, he was definitely not Hiruzen Sarutobi, because no matter how much she despised Konoha, even she was smart enough to know that the old monkey could still hold his own even with his old age, not that she would ever admit it of course. Onoki was the complete opposite however, as while he was still a good fighter, his constant cramps and cracking back almost always made him stop in his tracks. However, she didn't have time to ponder on such things, as now she wanted to do nothing more than celebrate, so she wen't to a bar to get plastered, because hey, if she was old enough to kill, why not do the same for drinking.

She entered a bar and came face to face with a white haired man with glasses and a mustache. It was blantantly obvious it was Jiraiya.

"Why hello miss, what would it be today?" Asked the disguised Jiraiya.

"Give me the strongest stuff you got old man. It's a special occasion you know." Said Kurotsuchi.

"Very well, coming right up." Jiriaya went to the back to get a bottle of regular sake. The reason why he wasn't going to get something stronger was because unlike the previous three, he planned to spike the drink. Jiraiya was a lot of things, but he certainly didn't hit a woman unless he was forced to, so in other words, if they were bad guys. So he took a bottle, placed it in a glass, spiked it, and then wen't back to the Iwa Jounin.

"Here you are miss, enjoy."

"Thanks old man." Kurotsuchi drank it all in one sip, and the effects were immediate. She passed out completely on the desk, where Jiraiya then carried her to the back where he had his bag with the others, and just like the others, he dumped her inside.

"Alright, finally we are heading off to Kumo, and after this is over, I hope these guys and one girl can forgive me for this." He said to himself picking up the bag.

 **Kumogakure**

The person in question named Darui, famous for his use of the very rare Black Lightning, was currently asleep after a very dull day of missions, as he would put it. He was considered to be one of the Raikage's most trusted ninja, next to the rapping Killer B of course. However, that title came with a price, and that was in the form of missions with his partner Shi. While he certainly didn't mind doing them, having to do them non stop was something that even he couldn't stand. After all, he was still human, and every human being had their limit, and Darui felt like he had surpassed his limit. He didn't even notice that there was someone crawling out of his bed.

'So it seems that he is already out like a light. This will definitely be easy.' Thought Jiraiya opening the bag and rolling the dark skinned man off the bed and in with the rest.

'Alright, now to take them to the place of my challenge.' He thought exiting the room.

 **Back in Konoha**

"Tsunade-sama!" Screamed Shizune slamming the door open.

"Kami, what is it Shizune?!" Thought the blonde Hokage.

"It's Naruto, he's gone!"

"So, he may have wen't some place."

"I have checked all the places he would be, his apartment, the training grounds, Ichiraku's, everywhere, and I haven't seen him anywhere."

"So, maybe he is out with Jiraiya somewhere." Suddenly, a messenger came into the room.

"Hokage-sama, we have recieved reports that the Kazekage has been kidnapped, along with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, and Iwa is immediately putting the blame on us." He said.

"So the Akatsuki are finally making their move?" Tsunade asked.

"It wasn't the Akatsuki, from what I recieved, Jiraiya-sama came to visit the Kazekage and the messenger was knocked out by him before waking up to find the Kazekage gone.

"Jiraiya-sama? Could this be connected to Naruto's disappearance?" Asked Shizune.

"I don't know, anything else I need to know."

"No Hokage-sama."

"Good, go back to your workplace. Shizune, head back to the hospital will you?" They both nodded and left the room. Tsunade rolled back in her seat, looked out the window, and sighed.

'Jiraiya, just what have you gotten yourself into?'

 **A/N: Be sure to review please.**


	2. chapter 2

**A/N: So** **I recieved a review asking if I was taking pairing requests, and the answer is unfortunately, no. There will only be one pairing in this story as far as I'm concerned, although I'll let the story speak for itself. Sorry anyone who doesn't like it, but I always have the plots of my stories planned out before I write them, sometimes all the way to the point where I have a clear ending in mind. Anyways, enough of my rambling, let's get on with the show.**

 **Unknown** **Location**

Right here, we find our protagonists, lying on the floor, completely unconscious, with a type of record and record player on a pedestal near them. Gaara was was lying face down on the ground, it looked like Darui was using Chojuro as his personal bedtime plushy, and Naruto and Kurotsuchi were laying on their sides next to each other. About fifteen minutes later, Darui started to stir, and as he opened his eyes, he found himself in a place that was obviously not his bedroom.

'Huh, where am I? Did I go out sleep walking or something?' He thought. He then noticed that he was holding on to something, and looked down immediately to see Chojuro's unconscious form. Panicking a little, he seperated from him and crawled somewhere away from, only to lay his eyes upon everyone else.

'Okay, I certainly don't remember having a sleepover with anybody, especially people that I don't know.' Thought the Kumo nin. Just then, Chojuro started to wake up. Opening his eyes, he rubbed his head from the pain of Jiraiya's bat.

"Ugh, my head. What is going on here?" He asked himself. Darui then spoke up.

"Hey, do you know how we ended up here?" Asked Darui. Chojuro looked up at the dark skinned man.

"Umm, hello sir. Sorry but I don't know how I ended up here, or how you or these others did. All I remember before waking up was getting hit by something hard." Answered the bespectacled sword wielder.

"That's strange, before I ended up here, I went to bed, was out like a light, and then I'm here." Recalled Darui. Then Gaara was beginning to enter the realm of consciousness.

"What happend? Why did Jiraiya knock me out?" He asked himself rubbing his eyes.

"Hey mister, do you know where we are?" Asked Chojuro.

"I can't say I do, but I remember Jiraiya the toad sage entering my office before he knocked me out." Said Gaara. Darui raised an eyebrow.

"Jiraiya? One of the members of the Sannin? Could he have been the one that brought us here?" He asked.

"That's a very strong possibility, by the way, I'm Gaara no Sabaku, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure no sato."

"Aren't you a little young to be the Kazekage?" Asked Chojuro.

"Maybe, but our village was in need of a Kazekage, and ever since my father was killed, the Yondaime Kazekage, I became a likely candidate." Answered the jinchuuriki.

"We're getting off topic here just what the hell are we doing here, and also can somebody wake up those two before the start to cuddle?" Asked Darui pointing to the still unconscious Naruto and Kurotsuchi.

"Don't worry, they're already starting to come around." Said Chojuro. Just as he said, the Konoha shinobi and Iwa kunoichi finally started to wake up.

"Ugh, never thought the sake would be this strong, my head feels like a rock fell on it." Said Kurotsuchi holding her head.

"Ero-sennin, what is his deal, knocking me out like that, I'll get him back for this." Said Naruto. It was then that they both looked at each other. While Naruto was questioning who this girl was, Kurotsuchi was thinking something entirely different.

'Oh Kami, don't tell me I was raped by some random guy on the street.' She thought, very much worried for the possible outcome of her little sip of sake. It was then she noticed the other three staring at them, her mind was having many thoughts racing through it, and she fainted. It was silent for a few seconds before Gaara decided to break the awkward silence.

"Naruto, it's good to see you again." He said with a smile. Naruto turned to see him and gave his own smile.

"Hey, long time no see Gaara." Their reunion was interrupted when Kurotsuchi woke up again.

"Okay what is going on here?!" She screamed, demanding to get answers immediately.

"Well if you're worried if we did something to you while you were out, we didn't, so you don't have to worry about anything unplanned." Said Darui, making Kurotsuchi breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's good to know, now for my second question, where are we, why are we here, and who was the jackass that brought us here?"

"Technically that's three questions miss..." Said Chojuro before trailing off.

"It's Kurotsuchi, granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage, and stop being a smartass, I don't like those type of people." She answered sending a glare at Chojuro that told him to shut up.

"Right, my apologies." He said lowering his head a little. Darui sighed before answering her questions.

"Well to put it simlpy, I don't know where we are or why we are here, but we have come to the conclusion that Jiraiya the toad sage knocked us out and brought us here." He said. Kurotsuchi scoffed, of course it was a Konoha ninja, she thought.

"Hey, what's that thing over there?" Asked Naruto pointing to the record and record player. He went up to it, took the record and played it. Everyone listened in closely.

" _Hello everybody!_ " By the voice, Naruto recognised it as Jiraiya.

" _Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what this place is and why you are here. Well, this place is an obstacle course, and an extremely big one that can't be finished in just a day or night._ " Then, lights turned on to reveal a very empty space where a door was located at one of the walls.

" _I built this place because at one time, when I was not an old geezer, I had a thought once, and it's something that some of you may think is extremely stupid. I did complete this, but a week later, I started to think otherwise of this idea. But thanks to my star pupil, he proved to me that stupid ideas can work sometimes, I decided to do this idea once again._ " Naruto lowered his head in shame, thinking that he was inadvertently responsible for why they were in this mess.

" _The reason I decided to do this is because I want to create peace with each other, and what better way to get everyone to cooperate, than by getting everyone to cooperate! This course will allow you to work together, talk with each other, maybe fall in love with one another, and if things go smoothly, we may have taken a big step to achieving peace._ "

"Okay, I'm all for stuff like this, but I think Ero-sennin is becoming to much of an idealist, and that is coming from someone who is a huge idealist." Said Naruto. Everyone looked at him strangely.

"Did you just call one of three legendary Sannin a pervert?" Asked Chojuro.

"Trust me, I've been around him long enough that if he stopped being a pervert it would be a miracle." The recording continued.

" _Now I chose you five specifically because I know that you are going to be the most accepting of this stuff, even if your villages have heavy grudges with each other. If you guys do this right, I'll give you all a big reward at the end of all this. I left you guys a bag filled with storage scrolls that contain food, hygiene products, weapons, everything you guys will need to live in this place. I have the highest hopes for all of you, good luck and stay safe. Jiraiya, out._ "

"This guy is crazy, just like every ninja in Konoha." Said Kurotsuchi earning her a glare from Naruto.

"What is up with you and my village?" Naruto asked.

"Simple, your Yondaime Hokage killed off many of our shinobi in the Third Great Ninja War. Your village can burn to the ground for all I care." Naruto growled and as he was about to respond, Darui interfered.

"Your Hokage also fought against our forces back in Kumo, but thanks to our peace treaty that we had years ago, we are now in a good enough alliance, so I wouldn't exactly hold a grudge against you." He said.

"Yeah, well after the day the treaty was made, one of your Kumo shinobi tried to kidnap one of my friends, who also happend to be the next in line to be clan head for the main branch of the Hyuuga clan, so no offense, but I hope you can understand why I'm not very trusting of you right now."

"Look, I'm sure our problems can be talked about later, right now, we just need to find a way to get through this place, however big it may be." Said Chojuro.

"And who exactly said you would be the one calling the shots four eyes? Sorry, but I don't think having someone from the Blood Mist Village lead this group is a good idea." Said Kurotsuchi.

"Hey, I was part of the rebellion to overthrow the Yondaime Mizukage, and our village has changed since then." Gaara wasn't really paying attention to this quarrel and instead picked up the bag filled with essentials and headed for the door.

"Enough of this nonsense, we are supposed to be working together here. Let's just head out and we can talk when we are outside." Called out Gaara. Chojuro just followed after him, as did Naruto and Kurotsuchi. Darui was looking at the situation more closely.

'So, it seems that the guy with the glasses will be easy to deal with. The Kazekage is a little hard to read, but he seems accepting enough. The real problem is Kurotsuchi and that other guy, I can tell they are going to fight more than a married couple once we step out that door, and that will make them working together more of a problem.' He thought as he exited the room along with the others, with no idea of what they would encounter.

 **Konoha**

Jiraiya was enjoying his day, writing his next big Icha Icha Paradise novel, when he heard a knock on his door. He went to open it up to reveal Tsunade.

"Hey Tsunade, how are you doing today?" He asked kindly.

"Cut the shit Jiraiya, we need to talk about where you took Naruto, Gaara, and the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. I know it was you who took them because one of Suna's messengers gave word that you took their Kazekage, making it obvious of who took the other two." She said sternly.

'Uh oh.' Thought Jiraiya with a look of horror on his face.

 **Akatsuki base**

We see holographic figures talking with each other.

"So let me get this straight, when you went to look for the Ichibi jinchuuriki, he was gone?" Asked the figure whose eyes were purple and had a few ripples in their design.

"Yes that is exactly what happend, un." Said the figure with one visible eye. Suddenly, a plant like figure emerged from the ground. it opened to reveal a person with green hair, yellow eyes, and half of his body black and the other was white.

"I think I know who took the Kazekage Leader-sama." Said the white half.

"Very well Zetsu, give it to us straight." Said the leader.

 **"With pleasure Leader-sama"** Spoke the black half of the now identified Zetsu.


	3. chapter 3

"So, Jiraiya the Toad Sage has him." Said the figure with the purple eyes.

"Yes, and not just that, it appears that he has the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and three others. We seem to have hit the jackpot here." Said White Zetsu.

"Two jinchuuriki. This may require a bit more back up than intended. Deidara, Sasori, the two of you will go and find them with Hidan and Kakuzu in case things get really nasty. Zetsu will lead the way." Deidara was for lack of a better word, absolutely pissed off.

"Come on! There is no way in hell that you will put me with foul mouth and zombie man! I refuse, un."

"For once, I agree with the transvestite!" Said Hidan pointing at Deidara accusingly. Terrible word choice, since Deidara now was setting his sights on the immortal.

"What did you just call me?!"

Kakuzu and Sasori weren't having any of this and decided to leave the room, and in Kakuzu's case, look for a bounty with a high price.

"Enough!" Said the leader. Both of them shut up and listened to what the leader had to say, only for Itachi to interrupt.

"Out of curiousity, just who are the other three that you saw with them Zetsu?" He asked to the plant man.

"It was a dark skinned Kumo shinobi with his bangs covering his left eye, an Iwa kunoichi with clean hair and one part of her outfit was sleeveless, and finally a kid from Kiri with glasses, light blue hair, and some type of sword." Explained Black Zetsu. While none of them knew Darui, the others caught the attention of Deidara and Kisame.

"That description sounds like Chojuro. I never would have guessed that he would become one of the seven." Said Kisame.

"Out of all the kunoichi from Iwa that I know of, Kurotsuchi fits what you said perfectly." Deidara said before he left along with Kisame. Itachi, seeing no point for him to be in the room anymore, left aswell.

"I will go get the artists and zombie brothers. I'm sure they will come around eventually." Zetsu then closed his venus flytrap and burrowed into the ground again, leaving only the leader and another figure with orange eyes.

'Jiraiya-sensei...what are you trying to do?' Thought the leader before he and the other left the empty room.

With the five ninja

"Okay, seriously why would that idiot put us in a place covered by snow, it's really freaking cold out here." Complained Kurotsuchi as she hugged herself trying to keep warm. Turns out that the place they were located was the Land of Snow.

"I don't know, ero-sennin is just weird like that sometimes." Said Naruto doing the same thing.

"I'm sure he has a plan for us for him to take us here. Maybe he..." Darui cut himself off as his eyes widened in horror at the prospect of what he was thinking. The others noticed him stop and looked at him with a confused expression.

"What? What is it you think he wants us to do?" Asked Chojuro. Darui shook his head.

"Nevermind, it was a stupid thought, nothing more. I say we just head on." He continued walking. The other looked each other and shrugged.

"So where the hell is the first part of this obstacle course anyway?" Asked Kurotsuchi. Naruto answered her question.

"Knowing ero-sennin and what the recording told us, it must be quite the road there." He said as nicely as possible. Kurotsuchi scoffed however.

"I didn't ask you." She said coldly.

"Hey, he is trying to be nice and cooperate with you. Isn't that the whole point of why Jiraiya-sama brought us here?"

"It's fine Chojuro. If she wants to be a pain in the ass, let her." Said Naruto finally. They continued walking, and for a while it was silent, until Gaara decided to stop.

"Okay, it's clear that we are all really cold right now, so let me see if we have anything that can help." He opened up the bag and took out the sealing scrolls. There were different types of everything, food, clothes, hygiene, sleeping bags, and thankfully, even cloaks to help keep them warm. Gaara opened up the scroll and it poofed up what it said it would, but there was one problem.

"Wait, why are there only three? Did he forget two of us or something?" Asked Naruto. Indeed, there were just three cloaks, and beside them was a note. Darui picked it up and read it.

This is a way of getting you guys to get used to the fact that you are sharing space with people that you possibly might not be fond of. I know I'm probably gonna get a hell of a beating for this, but trust me, I've experienced much worse.

Jiraiya

At the end of the note was a picture of a toad head that seemed to be doing a troll face at them. Darui dropped and froze as his worst fear just came true. They would have to huddle for warmth.

"Okay, lets think of something here. Is there anyone that can survive in cold temperatures here?" Asked Chojuro, secretly hoping it was everyone because no matter how much he wanted to get along with them, even he had his limits. If he got paired with Darui, Gaara, or Naruto, he would feel extremely awkward, and if he didn't even want to be with Kurotsuchi because he was a little afraid of her.

"Well, there were a few missions where I had to survive in freezing temperature, so you guys can have them if you want, I'm good." Said Darui quickly and honestly. Out of all of them, he seemed to be the only one not bothered much by the cold, and even if it was a lie, he probably would still say it just to stay in his own personal bubble. So Gaara and Chojuro took two of them, but that left Naruto and Kurotsuchi with last one remaining.

"Look, I know it might seem strange and uncomfortable, but remember what Jiraiya said. You either share, or freeze." Said Gaara. Both of them looked at each other before turning away with their arms crossed.

"I'd rather die than to huddle with Konoha garbage." Said Kurotsuchi.

"I won't go with her either. Hell, even Sasuke would have made a better choice, at least he was mostly quiet." Said Naruto.

"Both of you, why don't you just shut up and take it, otherwise, we will get nowhere." Darui tossed the cloak to them and Naruto grabbed it. He looked back at Kurotsuchi and she at him. After a small moment of hesitation, Kurotsuchi finally sighed in defeat.

"Fine, let's just go already." So they wrapped the cloak around their bodies, much to their discomfort.

'Now I'm seriously starting to dread what ero-sennin has in store for us if he thinks stuff like this will make us 'cooperate' as he puts it.' Thought the not so lucky blonde jinchuuriki. The rest of the walk was pretty normal. Naruto and Kurotsuchi were actually managing to walk at the same time in close proximity to each other pretty well, although they did step on their feet sometimes, although they couldn't tell if it was intentional or not. Everything was starting to become boring for Naruto, so with slight hesitation, he decided to converse with the Iwa kunoichi.

"Look, I know you probably don't want to talk to me about anything, but I just wanted to ask you a few things." He said.

"Alright shithead, fire away." Naruto sent a small glare her way before taking a deep breathe and began asking away.

"Why do you and your village still hold a grudge for what the Yondaime did in the last war?"

"Isn't it obvious, the answer lies in your question."

"You missed the part where I said 'still.' Honestly, if I was in your shoes, then I would just let it go, holding grudges just seems like something unhealthy."

" _(Sigh)..._ How would you feel if one of your relatives was killed in battle? My mother was one of the victims whose life was taken by your Yondaime. I was still a baby back then, so I never even got to know her." Naruto looked down in sadness.

"You know, I think I can relate to you on that." Kurotsuchi looked at him with a questioning look.

"What do you mean?"

"I was an orphan, so I never got to know the love of a mother or father. It's even worse when you're a jinchuuriki a Just be happy you still have your grandfather with you, because compared to me, your childhood was practically royalty."

It was then Kurotsuchi started to feel something inside her. Now that she knew about Naruto's past, she began to see him in a different light. She may have still hated him, but she could at least feel some sympathy for what he must've had to endure.

"You know, you're right. I really should appreciate what I have. However, talking about that in front of you might just make me seem like a sick bitch." Naruto just shook his head and smiled.

"Don't worry, over the years, my life has improved a lot. I have tons of friends back in Konoha, my sensei acts like a father figure to me, and overall, I just try to move on to better things." Kurotsuchi widened her eyes a bit at how fine he was with everything. She looked away and mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" Naruto questioned.

"I said you're not half bad, okay." Kurotsuch said finally, blushing a little in embarrassment.

"You're not so bad either." Gaara looked back at the two.

'So it looks like they are going to get along just fine.' He thought. Darui then looked up and saw that the sun was beginning to set. They must have woken up around the middle of the day for it to be setting already.

"I say we should hit the hay soon. What do you say?" Asked the dark skinned man.

"Yes, that does seem like a good idea. Let's find somewhere to sleep. Tomorrow we should be able to reach the first obstacle." The others nodded and began looking for a place to call it a night. Chojuro managed to find a cave big enough for all of them. Darui took some fire wood and place it in the center to make a fire, and Gaara put up a wall of sand to that the snow wouldn't get inside and put out the fire.

"So, is anybody going to open up the scroll that has the sleeping bags in them?" Asked Chojuro. The reactions were varied, with Darui and Naruto being a little fearful, Kurotsuchi being skeptical, and Gaara still had on his stoic look. After a long moment of silence, Naruto got up picked out the scroll and opened it up. Once the smoke cleared, they came face to face with a sight that was probably more scary than the three cloaks. There was a sleeping bag. Just one.

'Okay, that has got to have been made by Jiraiya-sama, because there is no way anyone would make a sleeping bag that big.' Thought Darui.

"You all can take it, Shukaku acts up a lot if I sleep." Gaara said. They all very hesitantly entered the sleeping bag. Darui was at the far right with Chojuro laying beside him, and Kurotsuchi was at the far left with Naruto next to her.

"Well, I guess this is good night." Said Naruto. They nodded before drifting off into sleep.

Jiraiya must have been desperate.

 **A/N: Sorry for the slightly longer than normal update, it's just that I have been writing so much these past few days that it was beginning to tire me out a little.**


	4. chapter 4

**Konoha**

 **At** **a meeting with the Five Kage**

Jiraiya was sweating bullets right now. His plan seemed to be crashing down faster than him running to safety for spying on women in the bathhouse. Right now, everybody in the room was staring at him with questioning, angered looks in their eyes. He didn't know what to say, what was he suppose to say, he didn't want to spill his plans out immediately. That was when the Raikage spoke up.

"Say something already! We just want to know why took one of our ninja from each of our villages, so spill it Jiraiya!" Shouted A. Onoki decided to add into the conversation.

"Not to mention you abducted my own granddaughter! Kitsuchi was seething mad when he found out she was kidnapped." Said Onoki. Jiraiya put his hands up defensively.

"Look Raikage-sama, Tsuchikage-sama, why don't we settle this peacefully and-"

"JUST TELL US ALREADY!" Screamed A.

"Jiraiya-sama, you might aswell tell us already." Said Baki, who was acting as a substitute Kazekage for Gaara.

"Okay, okay, I'll spill the beans, but first, I have an announcement to make." Answered Jiraiya.

"It better be quick Jiraiya." Said Tsunade. Jiraiya cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and then threw a smoke bomb at them. All five Kage were coughing and rubbing their eyes.

"It was a trick, we should have known he would try to pull something like this." Said Mei, the Godaime Mizukage, as she rubbed her eyes.

"It seems Jiraiya refuses to talk. He must have some big plans for them." Said Tsunade.

"Well then we need to search everywhere for him. Who knows what trouble they are in, not to mention that they have two jinchuuriki with them, making them huge targets for the Akatsuki." Said Onoki.

 **Back with the others**

Gaara went to kill off some snow rabbits to cook over the fire for breakfast. Sure, he could just use the food that Jiraiya supplied them with, but he figured it was best to save up the resources for later. When he came back, he found both Chojuro and Darui awake already, with Darui trying to rekindle the fire. He looked at Naruto and Kurotsuchi, but what he found was an odd sight. Naruto and Kurotsuchi were cuddling, probably because the fact that the fire was out.

"How long have they been like that?" He asked Chojuro.

"Probably when we were completely asleep." Answered the swordsman. Darui finally managed to light the fire up again. Gaara began to cook the rabbits he caught.

"I'll go wake up the lovebirds over there." Said Darui. He poked both of them for a while before they finally began to stir. When they opened their eyes and saw how they were positioned, they both blushed like mad and screamed, seperating each other.

"Pervert! Why were you cuddling with me?!" Asked Kurotsuchi pointing accusingly at Naruto. The blonde just face faulted and pointed back at her.

"Me?! You were the one that was cuddling with me!"

"Alright, that's enough, let's all just settle down, eat breakfast, and then we can continue onwards to the first obstacle." Said Darui. Both of them finally calmed down. Once the rabbits were done, they chowed down on them, and headed off to the first obstacle. They then came across a small place in the shape of an oval, a toad was in front of them, giving them a sign that this was the place.

"So this is the first place that we are supposed to go to? Seems like an easy enough challenge." Said Naruto.

"It's probably just bait. Jiraiya-sama may have made this to where it seems easy, but in reality, it's something completely different." Said Darui as they approached the toad.

"Greetings, Jiraiya left me here to give something to the Kazekage." He said. Gaara stepped up, but suddenly fell through a trap in the snow. There was a splash of water.

"Gaara, are you alright?!" Asked Naruto. The sand user came up and out of the water.

"I'm fine, although my sand just became useless now." He said as he exited the trap. Naruto looked at the toad angrily.

"What the hell was that all about?!" Naruto exclaimed pointing a finger at the toad. He just waved his hand dismissively at the blonde.

"That's just to make the challenge through here much harder. If the sand was used, then it would have been a cakewalk." Responded the toad. Kurotsuchi scoffed.

"Honestly, I would have preferred it that way. We could have gotten out of this place much quicker." She muttered. The toad just disappeared and went back to Mount Myoboku. Chojuro opened up the door, and found a dimly lit room with not much in it.

"To be honest with you, this doesn't look too bad, I'm sure we will find a way to get through this with little difficulty." He said as they entered. Once inside, the door behind them shut. Naruto tried opening it, but it seemed to have been locked upon closing.

"So it looks like we're stuck here until we figure out what we need to do for this first challenge." He said.

"Well, I don't see much obstacle, more like a very deep, very long pit across." Said Darui. It was a very big pit, and at the end of it was a small platform with a barrier blocking the way.

"If my sand was still dry, I could probably use it to get across there, although I'm not sure if it has enough force to destroy that barrier." Said Gaara. Naruto looked at the pit in observation for a while before turning around and looking at his four other companions.

"Okay people, looks like we are going to have to make our own path across. What jutsu do you guys specialize in?" He asked them. Darui raised an eyebrow.

"How is that going to help us out, and since when do we take orders from someone who is obviously still at Genin level?" He asked, making Naruto's eyebrow twitch.

"Just tell me what you guys have, maybe we can use whatever we have to our advantage somehow."

"Fine, I'm good with lightning, water, and storm style, aswell as black lightning." Answered the Kumo nin.

"Those all seem like offensive techniques. We need something that can fill in the gap of this pit. What about you Chojuro?"

"Me? Well, I don't really know. I almost always use my Hiramekarei for combat, but if I had to guess, it would probably be water style, although it won't help seeing as how it's just a wild guess." Said the swordsman.

"Alright then, Kurotsuchi?" He turned to the Iwa kunoichi, but she refused to reply. He looked at her questioningly.

"Hello, aren't you going to tell us what abilities you have up your sleeves?" She shook her head no.

"Don't get me wrong, I may think you are less of a piece of shit than your village, but that doesn't necessarily mean I trust you. You could just use that knowledge to try and kill me or something in the future." Naruto groaned in annoyance.

"Look, we don't have time to worry about what will happen in the future, just tell us what you can do to see if we can use it to get across!" She growled before giving up, seeing as how she figured they would constantly try to get her to speak if she stayed quiet.

"Fine, I have earth style, fire style, water style, and a unique form of lava style." Kurotsuchi answered finally.

"What kind of 'unique' version?" Asked Gaara.

"It acts basically like cement. To put it in an abridged and easy to understand type of way, I basically spit out quicklime, add water and then it becomes solidified." That was when Naruto got his idea.

"That's perfect! Kurotsuchi, why don't you try spitting that quicklime out into the pit, then Darui will use his water style to harden it, making it so that we have a some solid ground to walk on." He said. They all widened their eyes in surprise. Sure, it was a fairly simple plan to come up with, but the fact that it was Naruto who thought it up was obvious proof that he wasn't as dumb as he looked. Kurotsuchi obeyed his order and performed a few hand signs.

"Lava Style: Quicklime Jutsu!"

She spat out the quicklime into the pit, filling it up nearly to the brim. It was then that Darui decided to step in.

"Water Style: Water Wall!"

Once the liquid splashed onto the quicklime, it hardened it up and now they had a path to walk on.

"You know, you didn't seem like much, but I must say, you did show a bit of good leadership back there." Said Chojuro adjusting his glasses. Naruto gave him a grin.

"Thanks Chojuro." He said giving him a thumbs up. Kurotsuchi and Darui rolled their eyes.

"Well now we have to deal with that barrier blocking the path." Said Gaara. Chojuro smirked and pulled out his Hiramekarei.

"Don't worry, just leave this to me."

"You plan on slashing it open?" The Raikage's right hand man asked.

"Nope, I'm going to bust it open." The Hiramekarei then turned into it's hammer form.

"It's hammer time!" He exclaimed as he busted the barrier open with one strong bashing. He looked back at the others with a proud smile showing off his sharp teeth.

"How's that?" He said. Chojuro then got a good look at them and saw they were looking at him with a deadpan look. Well, more like he saw Naruto, Darui, and Kurotsuchi giving him deadpan looks, he couldn't tell from Gaara's emotionless face. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Hammer time? That was just too cringey." Said the blonde jinchuuriki before they all crossed to the other side and exited out the door. Chojuro hung his head before following them. Just as they exited however, Kurotsuchi grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled him back from the others.

"Kurotsuchi, what is it?"

"Look dumbass, I know you don't seem like somebody that will hurt anyone for no reason, but still, I don't think I can trust you with the information I gave you back there. Can you promise me that you won't try to attack my village, and as a reward for keeping it, I try to get my grandfather to stop his rage for your sick village?" He just grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"Sure, I always keep my promises no matter what, I never go back on my word, that's my nindo, my ninja way!"

Kurotsuchi couldn't describe it, but something about that smile that she couldn't help but blush a little at. It just seemed to make her happy for a reason she didn't know. She looked away as to try and not raise any suspicion.

"Alright then, it's a deal." She said as they made their way to join up with the others again.

 **Unknown Location**

"We should be there very soon, they can't be that far." Said the less evil but still bad side of Zetsu.

"I just hope this is worth going with these two artistic fuckheads." Said Hidan.

"Shut up you immortal bastard, un!" Said Deidara from above his clay bird with his partner, Sasori.

"Can you both just stop arguing with each other for five minutes?! You are both getting on my nerves." Said Kakuzu.

 **"Don't worry, we should be there soon, so if you want to tear your ears off, do it after we get the jinchuuriki."** Said Black Zetsu.

'Why the hell did I even join this damned organization in the first place?" Thought the Jashinist.


	5. chapter 5

"Hey, can we stop for a lunch break, I'm getting kinda hungry." Said Chojuro. Gaara stopped in his tracks as he looked at the others.

"I guess we can stop if everyone else okay with it. Are any of you hungry?" He asked.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to chow down a little." Said Darui.

"Now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit hungry myself. Kurotsuchi?" Naruto looked at his warmth partner as he called her. She was about to speak, but her stomach answered her question by making a growling noise. She looked away while blushing like mad. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You know, you don't have to be embarrassed about that, that's just a natural way of the body telling you it's hungry." He said. That was when Kurotsuchi thought about it more. Now that she thought about it that way, it didn't seem like something to be embarrassed about. She just nodded to both Gaara and Naruto.

"Alright, but I say we find someplace warm to eat, our food will freeze quickly out in this environment." Said Gaara.

"We should have some form of shelter in one of those scrolls." Said Darui. Chojuro looked through the bag and found a scroll with the words 'tent' on it. He opened it up, and much to the shock of nobody, there was a tent inside that they could use. It seemed big enough for all of them, even having a sort of dome design to it.

"Well, we should probably make a fire, we don't want to eat our food raw." Darui suggested. He pulled out a few leftover sticks and stones from the previous fire that he put in the bag after the exited the cave. He entered the tent and set up everything to begin the fire. Everybody joined him soon enough just as he finished making the flames. Gaara pulled out the food scrolls in the bag and opened them up. Inside, he found dango, onigiri, ramen, and some uncooked barbecue.

"Well, I guess this is all we have for now." Said Chojuro taking out two onigiri and handing it to Darui, who had three dango sticks between his fingers. Gaara took some of the ramen as he wanted to try some of it, and it wasn't a surprise what food Naruto got. Kurotsuchi picked up some chopsticks and took out a piece of barbecue and held it over the fire.

"So, since we have stopped for the moment, I was thinking maybe we could take this opportunity to get to know each other better." Said Naruto slurping up some of the noodles.

"What are we suppose to say?" Asked Chojuro taking a bite from the onigiri.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei told us to share our likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, you know, things like that." At the mention of Kakashi, Darui raised an eyebrow in question.

"Kakashi-sensei? Our you talking about Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, you were trained by both Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya-sama? You must be one lucky son of a bitch." Commented Darui.

"Thanks, but we're getting off topic here. Hey Chojuro, why don't you start things off?"

"Umm, okay. Well, my name is Chojuro, I'm a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. I don't like the fact that there is constant conflict going on in the world, but there are also things I do like, like Mizukage-sama for example. As for my hobbies, I don't really have any, and my dreams for the future are undecided as of right now." He said.

"You like the Mizukage?" Asked Darui. For some weird reason Chojuro didn't like where this was heading.

"Yeah, what about it?" He said with subtle blush on his cheeks.

"Is she a girl?" Asked Naruto. Chojuro said nothing, and just simply nodded. Darui and Naruto's faces had small smirks on them now. Chojuro knew what they were thinking, so he tried to defend himself.

"It's not like that okay! I just think she is really nice, that's all." He said putting his hands up.

'Sure...' Thought the Kumo and Konoha shinobi. Deciding to not torture Chojuro anymore, Darui was next to speak up.

"Alright, as for me, my name is Darui. What I like is hanging out with my partner Shi and being Raikage-sama's right hand man. What I dislike is how power hungry Kumo can get sometimes, and my hobbies are just to go on missions and protecting Raikage-sama, if that counts. Just like Chojuro, I don't know what I want to accomplish in the future just yet."

"You must be honored to be the Raikage's right hand man." Said Gaara.

"I am, but sometimes it can be a bit more work than I asked for." Darui responded.

"I think I will go next. My name is Sabaku no Gaara, the youngest of three siblings, the jinchuuriki of Shukaku, and the current Kazekage. I like my brother Kankurou, and my sister Temari, and I now hate the killing of innocent people for no reason. With me being the Kazekage, it leaves very little time to do any type of hobby, and for a while I didn't have a dream for the future, but after I was beaten in battle, I decided to earn the respect of my village, and that has already been accomplished." Kurotsuchi snorted.

"You got beat, by who?" She asked. Gaara just pointed to Naruto, and everybody was very surprised. Kurotsuchi just couldn't believe it. It had to be some joke.

"You have to be kidding me. This whiskered dork over here managed to beat you, the Kazekage?" She asked, her eye twitching. Gaara shook his head.

"I'm not lying. He may not look it, but there is more to Naruto than meets the eye."

'Well, I can't say I'm surprised. He is Jiraiya-sama's student after all.' Thought Darui. Naruto swallowed more of his ramen before clearing his throat.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. I like ramen, training, and my friends back in Konoha. I dislike people who judge others on a surface level, those who make random assumptions. My hobbies are eating ramen, watering plants on occasion, and training. As for my dream for the future, I want everybody to acknowledge who I am, and the way to achieve that is to become the greatest Hokage, believe it!" He said with as much determination as he could muster.

"I got to say, that's a pretty big dream. Are you sure you can make it?" Asked the blue haired Kiri nin.

"With enough hard work, yes. I will achieve my dream, and I won't die until it's a reality." Kurotsuchi laughed to herself, earning her a death glare from Naruto.

"What's so funny?!"

"You think you can be Hokage? Yeah right, like the Hokage will ever choose you to be the next in line." She fired back at him with a smirk.

"Well, how about you tell us about yourself, pink eye?" A tic marc appeared on Kurotsuchi's forehead, but she complied regardless.

"My name is Kurotsuchi, granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage. I like spending time with my grandfather, my dad, and my friend Akatsuchi, and what I don't like is the filthy shit of the earth known as the village of Konoha. My hobbies are none of your damn business, and my dream for the future is to become the Tsuchikage and make Iwagakure the strongest of all five hidden villages." This time, the roles were reversed, and Naruto was the one to start laughing.

"As if, you'll never be stronger than me once I become Hokage."

"Okay everyone, I think that is enough for today. I say we head out already before we get into another arguement." Said Darui finishing up the last of his dango. Naruto and Kurotsuchi nodded and exited the tent, quickly followed by Chojuro and Gaara, leaving Darui to put out the fire.

 **Konoha**

'Man, that was a close one back there. If they find out, they will probably beat the ever living shit out of me.' Thought the perverted toad sage as he wiped sweat from his brow. That was when he heard a growl from behind him. He turned around and saw the Raikage clenching his teeth with unmistakable anger in his eyes.

"Oh, hey Raikage-sama, how are you doing on this lovely day?" Asked Jiraiya nervously. His answer was the muscular man charging straight at him.

"Tell me where you hid Darui and the others!" A prepared to punch him straight in the face when he used the shunshin to get away, thus making A punch a wall.

'Well, at least things can't get any worse from here.' Jiraiya thought from atop one of the buildings of the village.

"I found him Mizukage-sama." Said Ao surprising Jiraiya as he saw Mei prepare a jutsu.

"Thanks for that Ao." She said as she finished making hand signs.

"Lava Style: Melting Jutsu!"

She spat out the large amounts of corrosive fluid at Jiraiya, who managed to get away yet again.

"Well, it seems that for the first time, Jiraiya-sama seems to have run away from a woman because of fear." Commented Ao. Then he felt a horrible feeling next to him, and with some hesitation, he turned to his left to see Mei giving him a sickening grin.

"Ao...if you want to live, then shut up."

'Why does she always do this to me?!'

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was sprinting at full speed until he came to an alleyway. He ran into it and starting panting, his hands on his knees.

'Okay, there is probably someone else trying to get to me, so there is no need to bother being hopeful at this point.' Sure enough, he looked back at saw the Tsuchikage himself, Onoki.

"Either you tell me where my granddaughter is, or I disintegrate you and look for her myself." Said the floating man while he made a particle style cube in his hand.

"Trust me, I'm sure you're going to be grateful for the result that will come out of this." Said Jiraiya with boredom in his eyes, which seemed to push Onoki over the edge.

"Grateful?! I will never be grateful for someone that is the captor of my family!" The cube expanded and engulfed Jiraiya inside it, who just yawned into his palm. Before he knew it, the inside of the cube exploded and Jiraiya was no more, or so Onoki thought. The one that was disintegrated was merely a clone and the real Jiraiya watched everything from the another alley.

"Yeah, that will teach you to underestimate the toad sage from Mt Myoboku." He said with a smirk.

"Ahem." The man widened his eyes before turning around slowly, only to be punched in the face. All he saw before he fell unconscious was a blonde women with a huge bosom, most likely Tsunade.

 **With the others**

The five of them were continuing with their trek to the next destination, but Darui stopped for a moment. The others looked back once they realized he wasn't walking with them anymore.

"Is something wrong Darui-san?" Asked Chojuro.

"I'm just getting a bad feeling." He answered.

"What is it exactly?" Asked Kurotsuchi.

"I'm not sure, but I think-" He cut himself off when he noticed a few things crawling on the ground. Just then, whatever was under there blew up and sent them flying back.

"We found them! We finally fucking found them!" Screamed Hidan in happiness as he and Kakuzu arrived at the battlefield. Deidara and Sasori were on top of one of the many clay birds made by the Iwa bomber. Away, hidden in the ground, Zetsu watched closely.

"This is about to get interesting, wouldn't you agree?" Asked White Zetsu to his other half.

 **"Yes, this will be something worth watching indeed."** Agreed Black Zetsu.


	6. chapter 6

**Konoha**

The first thing Jiraiya saw was a blinding light, nothing too bad to be worried about. The next thing he did see however was what raised his suspicions, and that was the fact that both his legs and his and his wrists were cuffed onto the legs and armrests of a wooden chair. He then looked around, and it looked like it was an interrogation room of some sort. He figured after Tsunade knocked him out that she dragged him all the way to TI to get the answers out of him forcefully. He wondered if the other Kage were still around to question him too.

"About time you woke up you damn pervert." Said Tsunade stepping out of the shadows.

"So, you finally caught me. Look, I can assure you that there is a perfectly logical reason behind all this." Said Jiraiya. That was when the other Kage's plus Baki came out of the shadows aswell.

"Well then, you better get to explaining it before we beat the ever living shit out of you, so start talking." Said the Raikage cracking his knuckles.

"First, let me ask you all a question. What do you all think of the idea of world peace?" Asked the sage, causing many eyebrows to be raised and Onoki to growl.

"This is no time for random questions that don't concern the matter at hand." He said, but Jiraiya only smirked.

"Trust me Tsuchikage-sama, this has plenty to do with the matter at hand, so please just answer what you think about it." All five leaders looked at each other before shrugging and answering his question.

"I certainly don't mind having worldwide peace." Answered Tsunade.

"Neither do I." A said.

"That does sound like a very pleasant idea." Answered Mei.

"I know that Gaara wants nothing more than for everyone to get along, and I gladly support the idea myself." Said Baki.

"I'm getting to old for this crap anyway, it would be nice to enjoy my retirement without having to worry about an attack." Onoki said.

"Good, and what better way than to achieve peace than by cooperation, and what better way to cooperate than by bringing together people from different villages to get to know each other better."

"Don't tell us you did what we think you did." Said Mei rubbing her forehead.

"Exactly! I took a shinobi from every one of the hidden villages, and put them in one place to have them cooperate with each other." That was what set off the ticking time bomb known as A the Raikage and Jiraiya was being chocked to death by the dark skinned, muscular man.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND, WHO KNOWS WHAT TROUBLE THEY ARE IN, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT THE AKATSUKI?!?!" Roared A as he shook the pervert back and forth with so much force that the cuffs holding him in place broke off the chair.

"T-trust me R-Raikage-sama, I put them in a v-very secluded place near the Land of S-Snow." Explained Jiraiya having a hard time trying to talk. A finally let him fall to the ground to catch his breath, and he turned back to his fellow Kage.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"I'll send Team 10 and Team 7 to look for them in the Land of Snow." Answered Tsunade. She then looked back at her old teammate and gave him a hard glare. He was in for one hell of a beating.

 **With the others**

"These guys certainly don't seem like much, un." Said Deidara while his clay bird landed on the ground to put down Sasori.

"Deidara-nii, never thought I would see you after the bombing my village." Said Kurotsuchi getting into a battle stance. Deidara smirked in delight seeing one of his old childhood friends again.

"Good to see you too Kurotsuchi, I must say, you really have-" The bomber was cut off by Hidan groaning in annoyance.

"For fuck's sake, enough with the damn talking, let's just kill off those three assholes accompanying the two jinchuuriki." Hidan was reaching for his scythe, but Kakuzu stopped him.

"No, let me handle this, I can kill them off myself." Said Kakuzu taking off his cloak. Hidan just scoffed.

'Fucking showoff.' Thought the Jashinist.

"Well, while you deal with them, I will take care of the Kazekage for us." Said Deidara as his clay bird soared back into the sky. He put his hands into a pouch containing clay. The mouths on his hands chewed on it for a little bit before spitting it back out, showing some weird spider type shaped clay. Deidara dropped the clay, and once it neared Gaara, he made a hand sign and it blew up.

"Art truly is a bang, un." Said Deidara. The smoke from the explosion cleared to show Gaara using a miniature sand shield, which later transformed a platform that flew the red head to the blonde. Meanwhile, back on the ground, Kakuzu's back was beginning to push out something.

"What is going on with that guy?" Darui got his answer when four tentacle like creatures came out of Kakuzu with weird masks on them.

"So you're going to use those fucking abominations already, you really want get this job done and over with." Said Hidan.

"Shut up Hidan. Why don't you be useful and kill somebody, they're going to aim for us anyway, so we might not want to stand around." Hidan grinned maniacally before pulling out his scythe and charging at Kurotsuchi.

"I'll take the girl! I would go for the jinchuuriki, but I think I would end up killing him." He held his scythe upwards, ready to strike, only for the attack to be blocked by a sword that she had with her.

"Looks like I will be the one handling the Kyuubi jinchuuriki." Said Sasori while his metal tail went to Naruto. Naruto pulled out two kunai and managed to catch it in between the two blades.

"Well Darui-san, it seems that we will have to fight off this guy." Said Chojuro pulling out his Hiramekarei. Darui nodded pulling out his own sword.

"Please, as if simple little blades will do anything against me." Suddenly, one of the masks opened up it's mouth just when Kakuzu went through hand signs.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

The mask shot out the fire towards Darui and Chojuro. Darui tried to counter.

"Water Style: Water Wall!"

Both attacks collided with each other, but Kakuzu was one step ahead.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

The wind jutsu amplified the power of the fire and suddenly the water was engulfed in the flames, turning it into steam. This shocked Darui.

'He has both fire and wind style, then what the hell do those other masks do?! Don't tell me he has more up his sleeve!" He thought as he got out of the way of blast. Chojuro turned his Hiramekarei into it's long sword form and prepared to slash at the former Taki nin. Kakuzu just jumped into the air avoiding the slice from the massive blade. He then wen't for another jutsu.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

The lightning mask shot out huge sparks of lightning at the water user, who would have gotten shocked if it wasn't for Darui stepping in and getting him out of the way.

"Man, this guy is tough. I'm guessing that those masks give him the ability to use different types of jutsu. So far we have seen lightning, fire, and wind. That last mask has either earth or water." Said Chojuro. Suddenly, they looked up and saw Kakuzu coming at them with a fist that seemed to be darker than before.

"Earth Style: Earth Spear!"

They both moved out of the way as he punched the ground, causing it to smash to pieces. Darui looked back at one of the masks and moved toward it. Kakuzu spotted the Kumo nin rushing to his mask and made another hand sign.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

"Lightning Style: Black Panther!"

Both attacks collided with each other, creating an explosion that knocked Darui back very far, as well as destroying the mask. Kakuzu cursed under his breath.

"Just my luck, one of the masks got destroyed." He muttered. He sensed danger behind him and saw Chojuro, this time with his Hiramekarei split in two, going to slash at him. He hardened up his fist and blocked his attack. He looked back at Darui to see he was going to try the same thing, so he repeated his previous action. Once he caught them both, he jumped and kicked them both in face before retreating back to a safe distance.

"I got to say, for you to actually destroy one of my masks is impressive. You might even have the potential to give me a challenge I haven't had since my fight with the Shodaime Hokage." Both his opponents widened their eyes at this. If Kakuzu was able to survive against a man who was considered a god among shinobi, then he seriously meant business.

Meanwhile, Hidan and Kurotsuchi were even in terms of strength with their weapons, but Hidan only needed one simple drop of blood from her to get the upper hand. He was getting impatient, so he decided to just increase the speed that he swung his scythe to get a higher chance at getting his blood.

"Hold still you Iwa bitch!" Screamed the Jashinist at her.

"Like hell I will!" She retorted. Hidan was about to slice her in half, but she just jumped out of the way and stabbed him through the chest. She smirked in satisfaction for a moment, before she heard Hidan speak.

"You know that fucking hurts." He said, still alive. She was very shocked to say the least.

'How is he still alive, is he some type of immortal?!' She thought. She then felt her shoulder being cut by a small blade that Hidan secretly pulled out. She backed away, and watched as he penetrated himself with his scythe. He then used the blood that fell from his body to create a symbol reminiscent to his amulet. He finally licked the blood from his blade and grinned maniacally as his skin turned into something resembling a shinigami.

"The ritual has begun." He said to himself. Kurotsuchi didn't understand what was going on, but she attempted to slash at him regardless. She came close to him before she fell to the ground from a painful feeling in her thigh. She looked up and saw Hidan had stabbed himself through his thigh, and somehow the jutsu that he was using made it so that he was like a voodoo doll to Kurotsuchi.

"What's wrong you whore? Are you feeling pain in your thigh, how about I help with that?" Said Hidan as he proceeded to shake the blade, only increasing her pain and his pleasure. He then took out the blade and pushed it through his palm, causing Kurotsuchi to hold hers tightly.

"Why don't you just kill me already, isn't that what you were sent to do, kill us and then take Gaara and Naruto?" She asked as she continued to hiss in agony. Hidan took out his blade from his palm before responding.

"You're right shithead, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it to the fullest. However, considering that you want to die so badly, I guess I'll grant your wish, I'm sure Jashin-sama will like you as a sacrifice." Hidan was about to stab himself in the heart, but was stopped by Naruto pushing him out of the blood symbol, as well as ruining it in the process.

"You motherfucker, you ruined my ritual!" Screamed Hidan.

"Sorry, but I won't allow Kurotsuchi to fight alone." He responed with his famous grin, which only seemed to piss him off even more, like he was being mocked.

"Naruto, weren't you fighting off that other guy?" Asked Kurotsuchi standing up.

"He was, but now it seems me and Hidan will have to kill both of you together." Said Sasori joining Hidan. Naruto and Kurotscuhi got into batte stances.

 **With Zetsu**

"Don't you think we should help them out a little. I know we're not the best fighters, but we do have some tricks up our sleeves." Said White Zetsu.

 **"We'll wait. If we get the upperhand, we'll just sit back and watch. If they get the upperhand, I think we will have to step in."** Answered Black Zetsu. They may have been the spy of the Akatsuki, but that didn't mean they were worthless on the battlefield.


	7. chapter 7

"It seems that Hidan, Sasori, and Kakuzu are evenly matched against their opponents, wouldn't you say?" Asked White Zetsu.

 **"That's just because they are holding back. If they have gone full force from the start, then this would have been over. Personally, I think it's quite foolish that they underestimate their opponents like this, it's what gets a ninja killed in the first place."** Responed Black Zetsu.

"Yes, that's true. That Naruto kid is very skilled to, he might just kill one of us with the help of these others."

 **"If that's the case, then we might just end up with only one of the two jinchuuriki. Which one do you think we will most likely be able to capture?"** They both looked around the battlefield, and then up at the fight with Gaara and Deidara. Gaara grabbed a hold of one of Deidara arms and crushed it with his sand.

"Hard to say, but my bet is that we will get the Kazekage. Naruto was training with Jiraiya the toad sage for three years, so I can understand if he is able to hold his own. The Kazekage on the other hand has probably been doing nothing but paperwork, so he is probably as strong as he was three years ago, if not weaker."

 **"We'll see what happens."**

Meanwhile with Kurotsuchi, Naruto, Hidan, and Sasori, thing were about to get tense. Kurotsuchi continued to fight against Hidan, now knowing his little gimmick. Naruto got into a battle stance to fight Sasori.

"I'll try my best not to kill you, you are very valuable to us after all." Said Sasori as he raised his tail.

"I won't let you freaks get a hold of me or Gaara." Sasori's tail thrusted full speed at the blonde, but Naruto just got out of the way.

'Okay, it seems that tail is his main form of attack. All I need to do is avoid it and shove a massive Rasengan up his ass.' He thought as he pulled out a kunai. He charged forward at Sasori.

'This kid has a plan. No matter, I'll just stab him and inject him with my poison to knock him out. I don't think I have to worry about him dying, I'm sure the Kyuubi will keep him alive long enough for us to extract it.' Thought Sasori as his tail lunged forward to try and sting Naruto. Naruto used his kunai to counter it and jumped over Sasori, only for Sasori to grab him and send him flying back.

'Damn, that tail sure is bothersome, I have to find away to either distract him or destroy that tail.' Thought Naruto getting up and making a familiar hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four clones appeared from small smoke clouds, one of which went directly at Sasori.

"What do you think you will accomplish by sending a simple weak shadow clone after me?" Asked Sasori.

"I'm not telling you that." Answered the clone as he pulled out shuriken and threw them at the puppet man. Sasori let his useful little tail fling them away. This however gave the Naruto clone a chance to latch onto the tail. This was enough to piss off Sasori.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Get the hell off it you son of a bitch." He said swinging the tail all over the place, the clone not loosing his grip in the slightest. Back with the real Naruto and the other clones, he decided now was a good time to prepare his technique.

'Alright, now seems like the perfect time for the Rasen-Shuriken.' He thought as he held out his palm and one of the clones formed a Rasengan. Once the spinning ball of chakra was fully materialized, the other two clones began applying wind chakra into it, creating spinning blades around it that slowly increased in size.

Back with Sasori, his tail was shaking so violently that the clone was hanging on with only one hand and swung around like it wawas part of the poisonous weapon. Finally, the clone was finally thrown off and was stabbed through the chest before disappearing. Just when Sasori thought there were no more distractions, the three other clones with Naruto ganged up on him, only to be shoved to the side and destroyed.

"Finally, now I can focus on the real one." Said Sasori looking back at Naruto, only for his eyes to widen as he saw what looked like a spiraling shuriken made of chakra coming at him.

'What is this jutsu, I haven't seen anything like it.' He thought as he tried to use his tail to block it, but that just resulted in the tail getting sliced off and an explosion sending Sasori back, this time without the Hiruko shell as the blast destroyed it. Hidan looked back at the redheaded puppet.

"What the hell happend to you? I thought you would have taken out that worthless piece of shit already." He said as he blocked an incoming attack from Kurotsuchi. Sasori got up and glared at the Jashinist.

"This is what happens when you get trained by one of the legendary sannin."

"I don't give a fuck who trained him, just take him out and we can take our prize already."

"Shut up. Besides, it's not like Deidara is doing any better, he had his arm crushed by the Kazekage's sand." At this statement, Naruto looked up and smirked as he saw it was true.

'Way to go Gaara.' He inwardly cheered. Then he heard a voice in the back of his head.

 **"Kit, if you want to rip all of them to shreds, then all you need to do is take some** **of my power."** Said the Kyuubi. Naruto scowled and shook his head no.

'Sorry you orange hairball, but that isn't gonna happen.' Naruto responed finally before severing their connection. The Kyuubi laid down.

 **'That moron is going to need me in the future, he'll see.'** That was it's final thoughts before going to sleep.

Back outside, while Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori were being taken care of at the ground, Deidara was slowly deciding his next plan of attack. He had already lost an arm, he couldn't lose the other. Thankfully, he managed to place some of his clay into some of Gaara's sand before he managed to crush his hand. He smirked in triumph, he had already won.

'I have enough clay left for one more of my masterpieces before I run out, so I have to make it count, un.' He thought as he dug his hand into his pouch so the mouth could chew up the rest of the clay. He then called out to Gaara.

"So, I know that you are able to block my attacks with that sand of yours, but can it block this?" The artist asked as he flew higher into the air and threw several miniature clay spiders down at him. Gaara made himself a barrier to protect himself from the barrage of explosions. As Gaara thought he was safe however, he felt strange stuff fall on his head. He grabbed it held it in his hands.

'Is this...clay?' Before he even had a chance to figure out what was going on, he heard Deidara's voice outside.

"Katsu!"

That was it. The clay figures explodes exploded inside the barrier, destroying it and knocking out Gaara in the process. His limp body fell toward the ground before being catched by Deidara's bird, who swallowed him in it's mouth.

"Deidara has got one!" Exclaimed White Zetsu.

 **"Yes, now all we need is the Kyuubi and then we're good to go."** Said Black Zetsu. That was when the leader gave them a message.

"If the Kyuubi was trained by one of the sannin, then we shall only take the other one, we don't know what tricks he has up his sleeves. I'm going to need you to investigate a bit more Zetsu." Communicated the leader from one of the towers of Amegakure. He had the same Akatsuki cloak, along with piercings on his face and orange hair.

"Aww, that's too bad, I really thought we would have gotten a double prize today." Said White Zetsu with a pout.

 **"We will get him eventually, but for now, I think it's time we stepped in."** Replied Black Zetsu as they burrowed under the ground. Back on the battlefield, Deidara landed next to Sasori.

"Alright, one jinchuuriki down, another one to go." Reported Deidara. Naruto widened his eyes before charging at Deidara with massive amounts of killing intent.

"You bastard, you give Gaara back this instant!" He shouted as he jumped up to punch him.

"Wood **Style:** Underground **Roots**!"

Both versions of Zetsu exclaimed as they put their arms into the ground, making roots sprout from the ground and trapping Naruto and everyone else.

"What the hell, there was someone else here?!" Said Chojuro struggling to free himself like the others. Hidan looked at Zetsu as he revealed himself.

"Never thought a lazy fucker like you would actually come out here to the battlefield, though it would have been more useful if you did that earlier." He said.

"Leader-sama has requested that we only take the Ichibi for now." Said White Zetsu.

"Why is that, I thought we could have saved ourselves some trouble by taking both jinchuuriki." Said Deidara.

 **"That's true, but with the discovery that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki might have new tricks up his sleeves, we might have a higher chance of getting killed. We don't know what he could do to us."** Explained Black Zetsu taking a glance at Naruto.

"Well then, if that's the case, it looks like you got lucky this time Kyuubi. Don't worry though, once we extract the Ichibi, we will come back for you." Said Sasori getting up, making Naruto angry at the fact that they treated them like they were the beasts they kept at bay. Zetsu lowered himself down to the ground again, Sasori got on top of Deidara's clay bird as the flew off, and Hidan and Kakuzu headed back on foot.

"Damn, they got away." Said Darui. Just then, he noticed that Naruto was beginning to rip the roots apart, and Chojuro and Kurotsuchi seemed to notice as well. Finally, Naruto managed to break himself free and looked back at them. They took notice that his eyes were red with slits for pupils and his whisker marks seemed to have enhanced. Naruto began to break the others free.

"Come on, we don't have time to waste, we have to go after them now, otherwise, Gaara is going to die!"

 **Otogakure**

"Sasuke, we will be leaving for a new location in about a week. You might want to start packing anything you want to bring with you if you have anything." Said Kabuto.

"It's fine Kabuto, thanks for the reminder." Replied Sasuke. Kabuto left his room, leaving Sasuke to his own thoughts.

'Orochimaru is useless to me now. He has served his purpose, but I won't let him take my body. He will need a new one soon. I just have to be patient, and when he is at his weakest, I will kill him and Kabuto, then I will go after Itachi.' He thought as his Sharingan began to spin rapidly.

 **A/N: Wow, this was a long time coming! Sorry about that, but unfortunately I had a small case of writer's block, not too mention I have many other things keeping me busy and distacted at the moment. But I managed to finally update, and hopefully I won't make any of you wait as long for the next chapter.**


	8. chapter 8

"So, where are we heading this time?" Asked Deidara.

"Leader-sama said we have a hideout near Sunagakure. That is where we are heading." Responded Sasori.

"So what do we do if those others break free from Zetsu's roots?"

"Even if they do break free, they won't be able to catch up to us in time. By the time they find us, the Ichibi will be ours, and the Kazekage will be dead." Deidara smirked triumphantly. Sasori was right, they were in the lead.

 **Back with the others**

Naruto just finished breaking the last of the roots, freeing the others.

"Alright, we have no time to waste, we've got to catch up to them now!" Exclaimed Naruto as he ran off in their direction, but Kurotsuchi jumped in front of him and stopped him.

"Wait a minute, don't you think we should come up with a battle plan before we rush in?!" She asked frantically, trying to hold Naruto back for a moment.

"We can think about it on the way there, we don't know what they will do to Gaara if we just stick around here!"

"Naruto, these guys could kill us easily if were not careful. If this isn't planned right, we won't be able to rescue Gaara, and we could all end up dead. I don't want to lose my new friends." This statement surprised Naruto a little bit, and he stared at her with wide eyes.

"But...we just met each other two days ago." He said. Kurotsuchi smiled at him.

"I know, but you guys have proved to be very fun to hang around, especially you. You showed me that not everyone in Konoha is as bad as many of the villagers in Iwa say. I want to rescue Gaara as much as you do, but what do you think would happen if this is not thought up well?" Naruto looked down at the ground for a moment.

"We would probably end up dead." This gained a nod from the pink eyed girl.

"Still, I think it's best that we think this while we are on the move like Naruto suggested, it seems like the best course of action right now." Said Chojuro.

"Well how exactly are we going to come up with a strategy while trying not to get caught?" Asked Darui.

"Well, we could just move at a slower pace. Like running on land rather than jumping through the trees like we usually do." Offered Naruto.

"That does seem like a decent way to follow them." Agreed Kurotsuchi.

"Well then, what are we waiting for, let's move." Naruto ran into the forest quickly followed by everyone else.

 **With Team 7 and Team 10**

"Kakashi-sensei, do you think Naruto will be alright?" Asked Sakura.

"I know that Naruto is a strong and capable ninja, more than enough for him to take care of himself. What I'm more worried about is if the others alalong with Naruto are willing to cooperate." Replied Kakashi.

"Well, he seems to get along well with Gaara, and from what I know, we don't seem to have any type of conflict with Kumo or Kiri. It's mainly the Iwa girl we have to be concerned about." Informed Shikamaru.

"Yeah, hopefully he and the Iwa kunoichi will be able to set aside their differences with each other and help each other find their way back home. You know how Iwa and Konoha have been for a while now." Said Asuma. Kakashi just eye smiled.

"I'm sure they will. Naruto was always the persuasive type, so he might have found a way for the two of them to get along for the time being. Who knows, they may even fall in love with each other." Said the copy ninja with a hidden perverted grin under his mask. Sakura rolled her eyes, Shikamaru didn't respond, Chouji and Ino had a questioning look sent towards Kakashi, and Asuma shivered a bit in fear.

"While that does seem like a cute little concept, Tsuchikage-sama will be very pissed if he finds out that his granddaughter is seeing someone from the village that killed many of his own ninja. Not to mention Naruto's other secret..." Mumbled the former guardian ninja on that last part. The others noticed him say something else, but just shrugged it off. They kept on moving until Kakashi made them halt.

"Wait, there is someone just up ahead." He warned the others as they stopped too. That was when they heard a distant voice up ahead.

"I'm just saying, I think the fact that Leader-sama won't allow us to capture both of the jinchuuriki is fucking horseshit." At the mention of the word jinchuuriki, Kakashi and Asuma widened their eyes. These guys had to be from the Akatsuki, and it seemed like they got a hold of either Naruto or Gaara. This just made their mission even more complicated.

"Hidan, if you have to complain about how much you hate Leader-sama's decision making abilities, then complain to yourself, otherwise I'm going to have to sow your mouth shut." Said another one, this one was much deeper and more annoyed than the last.

"Everyone, get ready. These guys have to be from the Akatsuki." Said Kakashi pulling up his hitai-ate, revealing his Sharingan. Asuma pulled out his chakra blades and everyone took fighting stances.

While Hidan continued his rant, Kakuzu saw some figures up ahead, so he stopped dead in his tracks and punched his partner in the face to stop him too. Hidan got up and enraged.

"What the fuck was that about, you stitched up son of a bitch?!" He exclaimed, pointing accusingly at him.

"There are others up ahead." Answered Kakuzu.

"You don't say. I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, catching up to Pinocchio and the transvestite is going to be a pain in the ass. On the other hand, I can almost feel Jashin-sama lusting for their blood. Oh well, since I don't give two shits about those two artistic jackasses, I guess I will go with the latter decision." Responded Hidan shrugging his shoulders. Kakuzu rolled his eyes, thinking it was very predictable of Hidan to say that.

"Well then, I suggest that we find a way to take them out silently, that way we can-" Kakuzu turned to his side, and saw his fellow immortal was gone. Widening his eyes a little, he quickly looked in front of him and saw Hidan running and laughing like a madman, his scythe in a strong grip.

'That idiot!' He thought as he ran after his idiotic partner.

Back with the others, they quickly got into a defense position.

"Here they come!" Said Asuma, sending chakra to his knives. That was when Hidan jumped out of the forest and began slicing at his targets with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Oh yes, Jashin-sama will definitely love you as sacrifices." Said the immortal in a sickening voice. Asuma blocked his attacks.

"Kakashi, didn't you hear someone else talking with this guy?!" Asked Asuma exhanging blows with the Jashinist.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" A huge mass of fire came hurtling toward they group. Everyone managed to get out of the way, besides Hidan, who was too caught up in his fun to notice anything.

"Guess that answers your question Asuma-sensei." Replied Shikamaru.

"That guy didn't seem to notice his partner sending fire his way, I'm sure he is dead." Said Chouji with a smirk, but that was replaced with a look of utter shock as he saw that the only thing that was damaged was Hidan's Akatsuki uniform.

"Hey asshole, that really fucking hurt!" He screamed as Kakuzu showed up with his fire mask alongside him.

"That is your punishment for jumping in without thinking about the possible consequences, you dumbass." Replied the masked Taki-nin as his mask made his way back inside his body. He then shifted his gaze to his opponents.

"So, Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja of Konoha, and it seems like you have brought along a former guardian ninja with you, plus some extra fodder."

"We assure you, we are anything but fodder." Said Chouji. Hidan raised his scythe.

"Kakuzu, let me handle these sheep, I'll send them straight to the slaughter house. Jashin-sama will be proud." Kakuzu inwardly groaned, knowing his partner would take his sweet time taking them out. This was one of the many, many reasons why he despised the fact that Hidan was immortal. Fights with him took forever when he decided to fight alone, getting in the way of Kakuzu's priorities.

"Kakashi, you and Sakura can move on ahead, we'll take care of these two." Said Asuma, and Kakashi and Sakura both nodded and sped off.

 **Back with the Naruto and the others**

"So what shall we do?" Asked Chojuro as he and the others were jumping through the forest.

"There is one strategy I have in mind, but I'm not sure if it's safe." Replied Naruto.

"Well then, lay it on us." Said Darui. Naruto sighed.

"Well, before I left for a training trip to prepare myself for the Akatsuki, I was sent on a mission along with four others, and we had to fight our opponents separately. One of us would stay behind and fight an enemy while the rest of us would move on up ahead." Explained the Genin.

"I don't really see how this is a problem. Sure, we would have to fight separately, but that brawl we had back there gave us a good idea of how they fight, so now we can be better prepared and we only have to worry about how we will deal with them individually." Said Chojuro.

"Sure, there is that, but the enemies that my team fought were Orochimaru's guy's, and we barely made it back alive. The Akatsuki are something else though, and while I have faith that you guys can hold your own just fine, I just don't want any of you to get killed." Kurotsuchi sped up closer to Naruto.

"I know you're worried Naruto, but you can bet that we'll be cautious when fight them, alright?" She assured him. Naruto got a doubtful look on his face though.

"I'm not sure Kurotsuchi. We don't know where they are heading to. What if there are more of them when we get there, what if Gaara dies before we make it, what if-" Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes before pinching his whiskered cheek to calm him down.

"We'll be prepared Naruto, we will make save Gaara. Don't think so negatively, you're only making yourself anxious. Just take a deep breath, calm down, and focus on how we will be able to accomplish the objective at hand." Naruto did just that and soon smiled at her.

"Thank you Kurotsuchi, I guess I am thinking a bit too much on the negative side, I mean, I'm Naruto Uzumaki for Kami's sake." Kurotsuchi returned his smile playfully punched his shoulder.

"Yes, you sure are, you knucklehead."

Chojuro and Darui looked at each other, both with raised eyebrows, and both thinking to themselves one question.

'What the hell just happend?'

The sun was beginning to set, but they just kept on going until they were eventually tired out. Naruto stayed up that night though, not being able to sleep in the slightest. Unknown to him, thankfully, help was on the way, but if it was going to be enough was something that would stay a question until their next encounter with the Akatsuki.

 **A/N: Well this has been a long time coming! So sorry for keeping you all waiting, but I had a terrible case of writer's block, and even though I wrote a one-shot to help with it, it still wasn't enough. This is mainly because even though I planned out how I wanted the story to end, I still needed time to think of how I want it to lead into the ending. If any of you have any suggestions of what I should do or how I should improve, please let me know, it will be greatly appreciated. Take care everybody.**


	9. chapter 9

**A/N: Just a little note here, I'm going to be skipping the fight with Team 10 and Hidan and Kakuzu because it plays exactly the same as canon.**

"Kakashi-sensei, do you think that Asuma-sensei and the others will be okay? Those two Akatsuki members did say they were immortal, that seems like a huge advantage in their favor." Said Sakura sprinting through the trees alongside Kakashi.

"There is always a way to defeat an opponent, even if they seem unstoppable." Replied Kakashi. Sakura nodded, although she was still a bit unsure if they would make out of the fight in one piece.

They kept on speeding up to who knew where they would find Naruto and the others. The sun was beginning to rise now, but they didn't stop their trek, even when they got a little tired at night. It was at that moment that the Jounin and Chuunin spotted four figures coming closer to them. Kakashi had a good idea of who they were, but unfortunately for him, there were only four as opposed to five.

"Naruto, over here!" Exclaimed Sakura waving at him with a smile.

Naruto was surprised. Sure, he expected Jiraiya to break eventually, but he never expected him to spill the beans this soon.

"You know those two Naruto?" Asked Darui as they approached the two Konoha ninja.

"Yeah, it's Kakashi-sensei and my teammate Sakura-chan." Answered the blonde. Kurotsuchi unknowingly raised an eyebrow at the way that he addressed his teammate. She figured out what she was doing a second later, and she didn't even know why. She shook her head, deciding it wasn't worth thinking about. It wasn't long before they eventually came into close proximity to them.

"Naruto, glad to see you're doing alright." Said the copy ninja giving his student his famous one eyed smile.

"Hey, nice to see you too Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan." Said blonde replied with his own grin.

"It's a pleasure to meet Kakashi of the Sharingan in person." Spoke up Darui getting a nod from Kakashi.

"Umm, I'm sorry to break up the nice reunion and all, but we kinda have to catch up to the Akatsuki if were gonna have a chance at saving Gaara." Said Chojuro adjusting his glasses a little bit.

"So it was Gaara they took." Said Kakashi getting serious again. Before he could say anything else however, Naruto sped up past him and the others.

"Naruto, hold up! We still need to figure out how were going to beat those Akatsuki members!" Sakura's words fell on deaf ears as her teammate continued on his path without looking back. Kurotsuchi, Chojuro, and Darui followed after him, not too soon followed by the two Konoha nin.

 **Back with Deidara and Sasori**

The bomber and human puppet were bored to say the least. It would take a while, putting it lightly to get to their base for the extraction of Shukaku. Not to mention they had other ninja following them, so that added more work that they would have to take care of should they arrive before, during, or right after they finished extracting it.

"This is such a pain in my ass." Groaned Deidara as he sat down on his bird.

"Just be glad that we got the much easier part of the job. Hidan is probably pissed off as much as...well every other time we have to do these types of missions, and Kakuzu is most likely getting tired of this with an excruciatingly headache by now." That got a short laugh out of Deidara. He always enjoyed whenever someone in the Akatsuki would make fun of those two immortals, even if Kakuzu didn't consider himself a real one. In fact, insulting each other was something that became sort of like a tradition, even though the leader would stop them shortly after. Speaking of which, that was when the leader decided to call them telepathically.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it I have recieved word from Zetsu that a team of six Konoha ninja have come to take the others, so Hidan and Kakuzu will be busy. Either we wait for them to finish them off, or we will have to start the extraction without them." He said. Sasori decided to speak his vote first.

"I say we begin without them. If we wait for them, there is a high possibility that they will be followed. At least if we start with their absence we might be able to still get the Ichibi out of the Kazekage." Sasori responed.

"I agree, those two dipshits can go fuck themselves for all I care!" Exclaimed Deidara in a rare instance of loud cursing that the organization wouldn't expect from him.

"Very well. I'll inform Hidan and Kakuzu of this choice immediately." Said the leader cutting off the connection. Sasori looked at his partner with a blank look in his eyes, not that it meant much since he was a puppet and who ever heard of puppets that could emote. Deidara looked back at him strangely.

"What? Is there something on my face or something?"

"The readers don't like it when characters are out of character, except when they are." Explained Sasori, only serving to further confuse his partner.

"I have no idea what you just said, but I don't care. Let's just pick up the pace, hopefully this thing can go faster." Deidara gave a hard tap to his clay bird, and it had the desired effect as it took off at a faster pace than when they were travelling previously.

 **With Hidan and Kakuzu**

Things were not loooking too hot for Team 10. Chouji and Ino were bruised pretty badly and knocked out, Hidan had Shikamaru pinned to the ground with his scythe, and Kakuzu hada bloodied Asuma in a choke hold.

"You know, the bingo books put your head in very high regard. You could make me a lot of easy money." Said Kakuzu squeezing harder on the Jounin's neck, making him cough out blood.

"Hey Kakuzu, I hope you don't mind if I kill these three." Called out Hidan as his face split into a grin.

"Go right ahead. Compared to Sarutobi, they are worth nothing." It was at this moment when the leader decided to make his presence known to the two.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, we have decided that we would be going on without you to take out the Ichibi. Unless you want to be left behind, then I suggest you kill whoever you are fighting right now." He quickly told them before leaving. Kakuzu sighed.

"Looks like I won't be able to get my bounty, but not to worry. I have another use for you that I can use, it was destroyed in a previous fight after all." Asuma had little to no clue what he was talking about, but he got his answer when the Taki-nin lodged his hand straight through his chest.

"Asuma-sensei!!!" Shikamaru shouted. Kakuzu pulled out to reveal Asuma's slowly beating heart. He dropped the now dead Konoha-nin on the ground like a ragdoll and inserted the heart into his heavily stitched up body.

"Wow, I never saw you actually do that in person. Now to deal with the rest of you!" Hidan kicked Shikamaru back to his team. He then looked back at his partner.

"Kakuzu, you can go on without me. These ones won't be much of a problem. Unlike me you can actually die if all those hearts of yours are all destroyed."

"Hidan, you probably won't admit this, but you might just be the weakest Akatsuki member here. I can't guarantee that you'll survive this." The Jashinist got a tic mark at that and glared at him.

"For fucks sake, you know damn well that I will be able handle myself, now leave, or I will sacrifice you to Jashin-sama!" Kakuzu didn't have the time to argue, so he took the offer and just left him behind. Hidan looked back at Shikamaru as the Chuunin stood up.

"You should just give up right now if you want your pussy ass to survive, not that I would let a fucker like you to live in the first place." Shikamaru wiped some blood from his lips before he spoke.

"If that immortality is your only gimmick, then I'm afraid your partner was right, you probably are one of the weaker Akatsuki members."

"Shut the fuck up you piece of shit!" Hidan charged at Shikamaru. He jumped high into the air, his scythe gripped tightly in his hand about to strike it's target. The Nara pulled out a kunai and managed to block it as they engaged in a fight of clashing blades.

While they were going at it, Ino and Chouji managed to wake up.

"Chouji...where is the other Akatsuki ninja, and...is that Asuma-sensei?" Ino whispered. Chouji looked at his sensei's dead body. He wanted to scream in anguish at the demise of his sensei, but he felt it best to remain quiet so they wouldn't attract Hidan's attention, getting them killed in the process. By his teammate's silence, she seemed to agree with him too. That was when Ino seemed to get an idea.

"Look, Shikamaru seems to be busy right now, but I have a plan on how we can take down that guy, even though he is immortal." She said quietly. Chouji nodded and leaned in.

"Okay, for this to work, I'm gonna need you to create a distraction, but wait for me to be out of sight first..." Ino continued to tell Chouji her plan, and once she was done, she mustered up all her strength and shunshined away. That was Chouji's cue.

"Shikamaru!" Shouted the Akimichi. Shikamaru blocked another blow from Hidan before looking back.

"Chouji! Look, I'm kinda busy right now, get to safety, and where is Ino?!"

"Oh no you don't you son of a bitch! I will kill both of you right here, then I'll find that blonde bimbo and slice her in half!" Exclaimed Hidan like a madman as he swung wildly.

Meanwhile, Ino managed to get to a safe location up in a tree. She put her hands together in her signature hand sign. Carefully, she aimed it close enough to Hidan.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Just like that, she fell from the tree at the loss of consciousness.

"Huh? What the fuck was-" Hidan was cut off when he suddenly felt like his mind left him. Just as Shikamaru was about to strike, 'Hidan' dodged it and took hold of his arm.

"Hey, Shikamaru, it's me!" Ino said from within his body. Shikamaru's eyes widened in shock.

"Ino?"

"Yes, it's me. Listen, I don't have much chakra left, so perform your jutsu before I leave his body." Shikamaru hastily nodded before stepping back and making a hand sign.

"Shadow Strangle Jutsu!" The Chuunin's shadow streteched out into hand as it trapped the Jashinist. Ino smiled before she returned to her body. Hidan looled at his situation and predictably, he was pissed.

"Hey! What the hell is this bullshit?!" Shikamaru smirked in satisfaction as Ino came out of the shadows with a similar expression. She then went over to Asuma and pulled out one of his trench knives. Hidan widened his eyes.

"You bitch! You took me by surprise, you can go to-" He was silenced when Ino sliced his head off clean.

"You did it Ino!" Cheered Chouji.

'And I thought I was the smart one.' Thought Shikamaru with a mental sigh. They heard the sound of the trees rustling, and suddenly Naruto, Kakashi, and the others appeared.

"Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, are you guys alright." Asked Naruto.

"Were fine Naruto, but Asuma-sensei..." The Yamanaka couldn't hold her tears as she quietly began to sob. Everyone else then took a look at what happened and were shocked to their core. Despite that, Kakashi spoke up.

"Things just keep getting worse. As if Gaara being captured was bad enough."

"Kakashi-sensei, you guys can go on ahead, we'll take Asuma back to Konoha." Said Shikamaru.

"Are you sure about that Shikamaru?" Asked Sakura, recieving a nod. She looked back at her sensei, who also seemed to agree.

"Very well. Stay safe Shikamaru." With that out of the way, the others went on their way, leaving the Ino-Shika-Cho by themselves. Shikamaru carried Asuma's pale body on his back.

"C'mon guys, let's bring him home." He said mournfully. After leaving though, there was something that could be heard throughout the entirety of the Land of Snow.

"KAKUZUUUU!!! YOU FUCKING JIIIIIINX!!!"

 **A/N:** **So yeah, the ending felt a bit rushed to me, but honestly, there are many important things going on right now for me, so I didn't have a lot of time to write, and I felt I kept you guys waiting too long. Sorry if this felt like a terrible chapter to most.**


End file.
